Facebook Proposing to Charge for Messaging a Total Stranger

The website Mashable, a technology news site, in a January 11th post, reports that Facebook is now charging users $100 if they are a total stranger and they try to message Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. If you don't pay, the message will go to his "Other" section, the equivalent of junk mail on e-mail. The site reports that the site has also experimented with other prices for messaging complete strangers. Users would not be charged if they were one of Zuckerberg's followers or if they were a friend of a friend.

The purpose of this plan is to eliminate spam from users' inboxes. Most users, at one time or another, get friend requests or messages that are not really from people, but who are from porn sites trying to lure traffic and make money. Facebook already allows users to set their privacy controls so that they can only get friend requests from friends of friends.

However, many users are annoyed by the "Other" inbox. Facebook filters messages which it deems to be less than important; for instance, from complete strangers. This is because most users do not realize that it is there and the risk is that they could miss important messages from people, such as job offers, for instance. To access the "Other" tab, click "Messages" under "Favorites" on your main page and it will open the "Other" tab.

Nigerian Money Scam Promises $14.7 million

A Nigerian money scam is circulating over the Internet. The e-mail, supposedly from "Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi," states that $14.7 million of money belonging to the recipient was supposedly returned to the Nigerian Treasury because it had not been claimed. Supposedly, the problems have all been worked out and the money is ready to be delivered by their diplomats to the recipient's doorstep. However, the catch is that the recipient must provide personal private information such as name and residential address, mobile and phone number, occupation, age, and nationality.

Scammers routinely solicit information from victims for identity theft purposes. There are no such processes in place to give money to people from the Nigerian government. Frequently, the scammers will request more and more money supposedly in order to bribe appropriate officials or pay various customs fees.

Please forward all scam e-mail that you get to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov. The FTC maintains a database of such e-mails that they use to track down and prosecute e-mail scammers.